


One Missed Call

by Hanna



Category: Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Inspired By Tumblr, what if
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-30
Updated: 2013-01-30
Packaged: 2017-11-27 12:56:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 264
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/662242
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hanna/pseuds/Hanna
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony Stark died in the portal.</p><p>Pepper missed his last call.</p>
            </blockquote>





	One Missed Call

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Book_Wyrm](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Book_Wyrm/gifts).



> Blame tumblr for this. My friend and I were liveblogging The Avengers and she was like OMG what if
> 
> And I started crying.

Tony Stark was a rich man. He designed and owned and threw away many phones. He went back to them to improve them. Pepper had the number of every one of them stored in hers just in case he decided to use that one again all of a sudden in fit of Tony Stark mood swings.

Tony Stark had given her many phones, then taken them away to improve them. She had rolled her eyes at him and handed it over, waiting to be handed an even better one later, because Tony Stark was nothing if not predictable in his unpredictability. She had a large collection of phones in her room that she never needed but never threw away.

She called every single one of Tony's with every single one of hers, listened to every unique answering machine message and let it ring out. Every single phone but one.

That one she hadn't touched since New York. That one still displayed that message on the screen, the message she couldn't get rid of. That one stayed in her pocket all the time and she often reached in to pull it out, twist it between her fingers, prepared to delete the message.

But she never could.

She stared at it in her funeral blacks, clutched it between her hands, and waited for everyone else to leave. Even Rhodey left silently, touching her elbow in silent camaraderie first, knowing she needed to be alone.

_Missed call: Tony Stark._

Tears blurred the screen as she hit 'call back' and lifted it to her ear with shaking hands.


End file.
